CLASSICO BORETTI

 
160 kms | 5 h 48 m | avg speed 27.7 km/h | avg hr 141 bpm | 2.699 kcal

Back to the Veluwe area for a good ride on the Classico Boretti, an organized ride with around 4 thousand cyclists. This time it was only Peter and I at the start line on a 4 degrees early 7:40 start. A long 160 kms with a great weather than went all the way up to 15 degrees, sun shining and a challenging route. With only 28 days for the Tour du ALS, this was a great training for climbing and endurance. Take a look after the link.

De volta a área do Veluwe para um treino do Classico Boretti, uma volta organizada com mais ou menos 4 mil ciclistas. Desta vez foram somente eu e Peter na largada, que começou com 4 graus às 7:41. Foram longs 160 kms com um clima muito bom, sol brilhando e a temperatura que subiu até os 15 graus. Com somente 28 dias para o Tour du ALS, foi um bom treino para subidas e resistência. Dá uma olhada depois do link como foi.

Right from the beginning the pace was quite nice. We were immediately riding at 33 to 35 km/h and even climbing Amerongesebeg, was done quite quickly. Legs were fresh and everybody wanted to warm-up as quick as possible. Around 10 to 15 kms into the ride a small group of 10 or so riders formed and we kept a good pace of 29 to 30 kms/h average. That without going into the red at any moment. At some point, a man on a Cube bike and a woman on a Giant took the lead of the group but I got nervous about their cornering and went ahead of them to lead the group. It was a nice feeling but Peter reminded me it would be a long day and we needed to pace ourselves. The wind was not strong but it was constant and we were getting it mostly cross.

The woman took the lead again with another guy and the group kept a 30 km/h average speed(with some mistakes due to bad direction signalization). In that way we got to 80 kms/h mark fast and did a lightning stop in the first feed zone. It was a good “performance” ride until that moment and we decided to enjoy the rest of the day with a slightly easier pace. Our aim was to keep an 28 km/h speed on the flats and Peter was good in reminding me of that, when I got over excited by big groups passing. That was a good thing as to finish the day at that speed was hard work enough.

We went thru the normal climbs of that region, like the Posbank and the Italiaanseweg. In the Posbank, wich is mostly 8%, Peter was ahead of me. When I passed him I was just going to go full steam as I always do but decided to keep pace and climb at 160 heart rate rhythm. I wanted to test how much that would affect speed. And actually was a good learning, right after the climb I felt I could push immediately while I usually had to stop a moment to recover. On the Italiaanseweg, which is on little stones and not on asphalt, the story was different. That came around 110 kms of riding and I was quite tired. It was a matter of just survive it. Very different from doing it at 20 kms like in Veenendaal-Veenendaal.

Right after that we got the sign to turn , but pure coincidence, we met one of the guys from the Tour du ALS team. Remco was doing a training ride alone and Peter spotted him in a corner where he was turning right and we were just passing thru from a descend at 35 kms/h. Split second coincidence. We stop and chatted a bit about the fundraising ride he is organizing for the ALS tomorrow, Sunday 3rd. It as nice.

From that point it was mostly a flat ride with some quick small climbs and we finish the 161 kms with a good pace and despite being totally exhausted we had a feeling that it was a productive ride. No drama with rain and cold, almost no stops and a good pace.

THINGS I NOTICED:

This was the first time I’ve done the Classico Boretti, that moved to the Veluwe area las year. The route was nicely done but could have much more climbing involved (as Veenendaal-Veenendaal).

It was clear where the organization effort was: starting village with quite some exposition and good facilities and on traffic control with official controllers stopping traffic. The feed zones, unfortunately, were not a priority and on the second one they didn’t even have water and riders were queuing to get the last drops of energy drinks. For a ride that is quite expensive, I expected more.

They forced you via the site to buy their t-shirt. But not everybody was using it or had it hidden inside their jackets. Made me think: did I miss a way of not being forced to buy the ugly yellow jersey?

Cyclists can get too involved in the pedaling business. I was 4th in line on a group. A little girl run to cross the cycle path just in front of the group. None of the 3 people in front of me noticed her or bothered to shout a warning signal. I shouted “watch out!” just in time and the guy behind me just had the time break (I heard his skidding tires)…

When you mix two routes it can become dangerous. At some point in Arnhem with 50 kms to go, the route of 110 kms mixed with the 160 kms. We had a group that was tired and loosing focus with a team that was a top of performance moment, with just 50 kms done. Impatience from one side and tiredness from the other created some dangerous moments.

Guys that have “crabon” wheels are assholes. I don’t mean the guys that have nice wheels and ride normally. But there is a group of guys that treat every ride as a classic ride and they are against Cancellara. They have their “crabon” wheels and bikes and jump into the sidewalk, into the grass area and even push others just to gain a little position (mostly just before a traffic light)…